Pick a topic, any topic

What about sports? Your talents? Skills? Creative... technical... there are things you know that someone else would like to read about.

What about your job? Is there something you can share that will interest others?

Okay, don't answer that, because 9 out of 10 people will probably think their job is boring. But there may be some parts of it that will benefit others if they hear about how you go about your job. The more specialized the field the more interesting it's going to be. It's all in the way you communicate it.

Jot down your ideas. Use Notepad. Write down a whole bunch of them and think about which one would be the easiest to document, and start with that.

Someone out there wants to hear what you've seen or know. Just be sure to write it in such a way that others can understand and relate to.

4 rules for a great Hub title

1. clearly describe the contents of your Hub, as specifically as possible

2. be as short as possible. Google cuts off titles at 60 characters (including spaces), so make sure you communicate the contents of your Hub in 60 characters or less.

4. NOT ALL CAPS. THIS IS THE ONLINE VERSION OF SCREAMING AND SEEMS AGGRESSIVE. PEOPLE DON'T LIKE IT.

Source: HubPages HQ

Naming Your Hub

What to name it?

It's lot like picking out a domain name.

What's the right name? What's the best name?

Lets say you want to write a lens about Soil Erosion.

You could get hubpages.com/hub/soilerosion

Maybe that's already gone. If it is there are other ways you could write it.

hubpages.com/hub/soil-erosion or hubpages.com/hub/soil_erosion

Search Engines will read soilerosion, soil-erosion and soil_erosion as "soil erosion", so don't be worried about a negative SEO effect.

Maybe they're all gone, or maybe they aren't, and you're spoiled for choice. And you don't know which way to go.

There's also hubpages.com/hub/soil and hubpages.com/hub/erosion to consider.

Decisions! Decisions!

Any of them will work. It may come down to a matter of taste. Your opinion. And also aesthetics. The one you think looks best. The one you think reads easiest.

Now if all those words are gone and indeed each of them are to do with the topic of Soil Erosion then you may want to consider whether or not you should do a lens on soil erosion.

If it's more than just a passing interest and you do have experience and inside knowledge into the topic then by all means go ahead with creating a lens. You will have something to new or fresh to impart to someone else seeking information on the subject.

So you've got an expert opinion on Soil Erosion but all the good simple soil erosion names are gone. Where now?

hubpages.com/hub/allaboutsoilerosion

hubpages.com/hub/askmeaboutsoilerosion

hubpages.com/hub/soilerosionnow

hubpages.com/hub/effectsofsoilerosion

hubpages.com/hub/soilerosion101

They're all possibilities. And they may not be quite to your taste because they look so long and almost unreadable so it would be advisable to break up the words with underscores or hyphens.

Before you decide on a name and lock it in consider the possibilities and alternatives. Type them out, check to see availabity and then make a shortlist of the best candidates.

And the title of your lens doesn't have to be exactly like the url of the lens. eg: www.squidoo.com/soil_erosion_now can be titled "Soil Erosion".

Whatever you do, don't waste the opportunity to involve some good topical keywords.

Tags

Tags help classify and categorize your page. They are keywords that describe what your article is about.

They help both the HubPages search and search engines to index your pages content.

Be sure to use appropriate words. Don't try and manipulate search engines into adding your page for keywords that have nothing to do with the content. The result will be visitors that won't find what they're looking for. And that's not quality traffic.

Capsules

Capsules are the 'modules' you use for each part of your Hub.

Each Hub starts with a Text Capsule, Photo Capsule and a Comments Capsule. You can re-organize or delete as you see fit. Usually though you'll want to add more.

You can sit capsules side by side or make it look like you've inserted an Amazon Capsule in a Text Capsule by "Toggling the Width".

There is so much more to explain about Capsules that I have drafted and plan to publish a Hub dedicated to the topic of Capsules.

I'll link to it from here once it's completed.

No HTML

That you've manually coded

However... if you're like me and you write your content in Notepad marking it up in HTML as you go along (text formatting, hyperlinks, etc) then make your txt document into an actual HTML page. And then view it in a web browser, and then copy and paste what you see there into your Text Capsule. It'll bring the formatting with it. w00t!

Otherwise you can just add the hyperlinks and text styles as you go along. Which for someone who is proficient in HTML will find that method slower. But for a newbie it's a lot easier.

Getting a cut of other peoples pageviews

AKA Referrals or Tracker ID's

The system is unique. In that it rewards you. And in turn you are rewarding the Hubpage author by sending them traffic. How it works and how it benefits you is too much to explain in just one capsule, so I've dedicated an entire hub to it: How HubPage Tracking Works

Mature Content

Mature content needs to be ticked as such. Otherwise Adsense ads will appear.

Which is not a good thing. As it is a Google Adsense ToS violation if you have Adsense ads on a page with nudity or other mature content. Violations result in having your account banned.

It's not worth it.

Also from a HubPages point a view if you publish mature content, but don't mark it correctly, the HubPages system will eventually mark all your new Hubs as mature.

I'd go as far to suggest that if you wish to publish such content, that you register a seperate Hub Author account specifically for Hubs of that nature. It'll make HubPages safer for kids and others who may browse through your collection of other appropriate pages.

Making Money

There are four ways to directly make money from HubPages...

1) Adsense. Adsense is a contextual pay per click advertising program. What that means is the ads that are served (shown) on your site are automatically in context to the content of your site. And you get paid for each click. The amount paid depends on how popular the keyword/s is and what advertisers bid for it. Of course that's the short story. It's a lot more complicated then that but Google have made it simple enough to implement and HubPages have made it even easier. If you don't already have an Adsense account you can do it through HubPages after you register a HubPages account.

Extra reading:

www.squidoo.com/whatisadsense

www.squidoo.com/clickfraud

www.squidoo.com/adsensebeginnersguide

2) Amazon. Amazon is a good way to monetize your site by choosing products (books, DVD's and others) that are complementary to your content.

3) Ebay. It works the same way as Amazon. But instead of brand new products most of them will be second hand. Which also means you get to choose some rare, out-of-print and other hard to find goodies.

4) Affiliate links. Provided you don't go overboard a few select referral links will give you the opportunity to generate some sales.

Important to note though, revenue streams 1, 2 and 3 described above has a pageview split with you the Hub Author getting 60% of the pageviews.

The other 40% HubPages splits further, but without going into too much detail (more information on that will be in the soon to be published on Tracking/Referrals) HubPages derives it's own income from part of that 40%. That's how HubPages can afford to stay in business and provide us with these fantastic tools and platform in which to publish our articles. All for free.

How much money you can earn depends on how good (original and unique) your content is, how well you integrate the affiliate products, and how much traffic you can drive to your hubs. There are no guarantees for success, but if you work smarter and you're willing to learn you can make money while you're sleeping from this excellent residual income stream.

More by this Author

All this information is available around HubPages, in the FAQ or in some cases discussed further in the forum. But rather than send you off on a wild goose chase to find it all I've collated the information to present...

Metaphorically speaking, they are the tools in your toolbox. They are building blocks. You pick and choose the ones you need to build the hub you want.
There are two types of capsules:
Content Capsules
Text...

I started with a blogg to earn money then i informed about hubpages its mine 2nd day to this, just i signed up and applied for the adsence account, i tried to hub an article but i could not publish it becouse i find no way to publish it i think the text capsule may help me to publish my first article on hubpages. what is your advise to me.

Innovator820 7 years ago from Back After Being Lost For A Year!

Great info. for a new hubber!

okmom23 7 years ago from Midwest, U.S.A.

Great info. for a newbie! Thank you!

WannaB Writer 7 years ago from Templeton, CA

I found this very helpful in learning my way around a new system of publishing. i think you covered the basic information very well, and I have kept your hub open while I've been working on my first two hubs, which I've just published. I will probably continue to keep it open for each new hub until I believe I know what I'm doing.

Kiki Hu 7 years ago from California, United States

So much to learn. Thank you! :)

Cagsil 6 years ago from USA or America

Thank you again. :D That was excellently laid out.

dragonbear 6 years ago from Essex UK

Oh dear, I can't count! This is two! It's great too!

skye2day 6 years ago from Rocky Mountains

Darkside, Thank You again. I am happy someone has the 'brains' in the tech. skills. It sure is not me, but getting better with practice.(-: Where were you 3 years ago? Oh, I see where you were, here for starters. Wish I would have known. I would have been spared many painstaking tasks that availed little to nothing. Well better late then never. Very good stuff, Darkside. (-:

Hugs again.

Hugs again.

abidareacode 6 years ago from Areacode , Kerala, India

Darkside, you are showing your lightside through these hubs!!!

sharaai 6 years ago

I signed up for a Hubpage went through the process and I am still waiting for an editor program for me to write the

topic. Where do I write the Hub?

darkside 6 years ago from Australia Author

Sharaai, you need to click on the link at the top of the page that says 'start a new hub'.

Sparkle Chi 6 years ago from Chandler, AZ

Thanks for the HTML tip.. I much prefer your method! great advice for those just getting started. Glad to know there are hubbers like you to let everyone know how to get started!